I needed a holiday wreath for our front door (fast), and the inspiration for this project hit me.It's a bit of a quick-and-dirty, held together by a glue-gun-and-a-prayer kinda number, but I think it should do nicely for the next month or so!

The key ingredient for this project is a bunch of polymer clay stars. I made these for a craft fair I worked recently, and though a lot of them sold (yay!), I was still left with a TON of stars. With the holidays nearing, I figured I needed to put the stars to good use.

TO MAKE THE STARS: Roll out a sheet of white Sculpey (the cheaper stuff in the large package) on the thickest setting of pasta machine. Using a star shaped cookie cutter, cut out the star. Using the dull edge of a blade, lightly impress the edge onto the star to make the "nautical" pattern: point to opposite corner, with little "slashes" along one edge of the star. Then, distress with acrylic paint, powders, etc...sand for a nice finish, etc etc BAKE!

ALTERNATIVE: Unless you already have the stars made, making these stars turns this afternoon project into a bigger undertaking. Feel free to substitute polymer clay ornaments that you already have, or flat store bough ornaments. Anything flat will do.

BEGIN ASSEMBLING WREATH:

Using a charger plate or other round object as a template, lay out the stars, making sure you have enough, and working out an order.

Then, working around the arrangement, hot glue gun each star to the next, stacking them in a scale-like arrangement:

Next, flip over the star wreath (which you will notice is somewhat flimsy; this is reasoning behind this next step), and glue gun some popsicle sticks around on the back. Place them in such a way that they anchor all stars to one another, and create a sort of supportive backing:

NOTE: Polymer clay does not survive well when left in direct sun for long periods of time, even once it has been cured. Therefore: use a budget-friendly clay, and be prepared that this wreath may only be a one-season type deal. This is why using polymer ornaments you already have, or store bought flat ornaments, makes sense.

also just realized: the overall shape of the wreath itself is kind of gear-like (with the star points sticking out), so if you used wooden stars and painted them bronze or copper, u could have a cool steampunk wreath

This is really nice! I like that it looks festive without the use of Christmas colors.

Did you paint the stars before or after baking?

thanks, everyone, for all the craftster LUV!

paint: i almost always paint my polymer clay items BEFORE baking, then sand, then quickly rebake again. the baking heat sets and bonds the paint, and uncured clay has a tacky surface that grabs paint; whereas when u paint a baked piece, the paint tends to bead and roll off.

Love the wreath!best way I know to cover structures that you don't like (popsicle sticks), make a felt circle and glue that to the back. this will not only hide the "bones" but also give some scratch protection to the door/window.Awesome job!-PJ

Love the wreath!best way I know to cover structures that you don't like (popsicle sticks), make a felt circle and glue that to the back. this will not only hide the "bones" but also give some scratch protection to the door/window.Awesome job!-PJ